Germany's Friedrich Merz will announce new Ukraine military aid during his meeting with Zelenskyy in Berlin today. The package, worth billions, is expected to include air defense, other weapons and technical components that allow Kyjiw to build cruise missiles. www.politico.eu/newsletter/b...

Ein Schiff rammt eine für Militärtransporte in Richtung Ukraine essentielle Brücke in Niedersachsen. Zwei Monate fällt sie aus. Doch kaum ist sie repariert, wird sie erneut von einem Schiff gerammt. Wir müssen endlich die Augen öffnen, was hier passiert: www.welt.de/politik/deut...

One month ago, Trump wrote "Vladimir, STOP", yet last night Russia perpetuated another deadly attack, killing several civilians, including children. When will Trump & his entourage realize that giving up on Ukraine means Russia but also China won't take them seriously any more?

Merz in Tirana: - “very disappointed” that Putin avoids peace talks - Europe will make new offers for talks “in the coming days” - they spoke to Trump about this Yet no word about new sanctions, suggesting that the unity with Trump on this (from last weekend) is gone for now.

Germany intends to drastically increase its defense spending and reach 5 percent of GDP — in line with Donald Trump’s demand — Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul says at NATO meeting in Turkey. This means an increase of annual defense spending to over 200 bn over the next years.

So, Merz, Macron, Starmer, Tusk and Zelenskyy called Trump super early (they may have woken him up — Macron had his mobile), but it worked: The U.S. President agreed to support their peace initiative, making the Kyiv meeting a success (for now). Story: www.politico.eu/article/euro...

Breaking from Kyiv: Merz, Macron, Starmer and Tusk urge Putin to accept an unconditional 30-days ceasefire, strongly rejecting Moscow’s demand of first halting Western military aid. Crucially, they called Trump during the meeting in Kyiv who told them he’s backing their approach.

The leaders of the U.K., Germany, France and Poland will visit Ukraine on Saturday in an attempt to pile pressure on Russian President Vladimir Putin to agree a 30-day ceasefire and open meaningful peace talks. www.politico.eu/article/emba...

Foreign ministers from the EU, U.K. and Ukraine on Friday launched a new tribunal to prosecute Russian officials responsible for war crimes against Ukraine. That sends a grim counterpoint to Putin’s Victory Day parade in Moscow. My story from Lviv: www.politico.eu/article/eu-u...

Friedrich Merz elected as Germany‘s 10th Chancellor. In the second round he got 325 votes, nine more than needed (and still three less than his coalition theoretically has).

Italy is now the center of political stability compared to Berlin that is in an unprecedented mess. Whatever motivated MPs to vote against Merz, they chose to toss Germany into constitutional chaos at the worst moment: Trump, Russia's aggression, recession...

Breaking: Friedrich Merz FAILS to get elected as German Chancellor in the first round of voting. Huge setback in 🇩🇪 There can be a second and third round of voting but it's unclear whether it can take place today.

Germany’s domestic intelligence service just categorised the AfD as “definitely right-wing extremist.” The suspicion that the party is pursuing endeavours directed against the free democratic basic order has been confirmed. This paves the way for a potential ban of the AfD.

Germany's Chancellor-in-waiting Friedrich Merz says "yes" to Taurus for Ukraine. "If it is agreed" among allies — and he adds that FR & UK are already supplying cruise missiles — "then Germany should participate." He says the Crimea bridge could be targeted & "destroyed."

We’ve been wondering how the Trump team came up with these weird tariffs that other countries are allegedly charging the U.S. — a fictive 39% for the EU — to justify their reciprocal tariffs. Sander Tordoir found out they simply divided the trade deficit by exports to U.S. This is wild.

“I wanna not quite wrap this up yet,” says Cory Booker as he just broke — amid standing ovations — the record for the longest senate speech (over 24 hours and 20 minutes by now). The so far largely speechless Democrats find a new voice against Trump.

Breaking: Germany's parliament approves Chancellor-in-waiting Friedrich Merz's plan to soften debt rules for massively increasing defense spending (plus a €500 billion special fund for infrastructure & climate). 513 voted in favor of changing Germany's basic law, 207 against.

Je vous présente … Merzcron. Macron is in Berlin tonight and will dine with the likely new Chancellor Friedrich Merz. The two are getting on much better personally, but also substance — like plans for Europe’a future. All the details in Berlin Playbook: www.politico.eu/newsletter/b...

Während die Fraktionssitzung der Union noch läuft, tritt Mario Czaja vor die Kameras und kritisiert einen „erheblichen Vertrauensverlust bei der CDU“ durch Merz plötzliche Schulden-Wende nach der Wahl. Es gebe „eine Handvoll“ weiterer Gegenstimmen in der Union — mehr aber nicht.

After a one year pause I’m back on Bluesky. Got a bit too fed up with the Russian trolls and propaganda on X. Hope the conversation here is a bit better?

The German government missed a self-imposed deadline for reaching a 2024 budget deal Wednesday, fueling concerns that the European Union's biggest economy is headed for a prolonged period of political and fiscal paralysis. www.politico.eu/article/germ...

Baerbock chides Orbán and Serbia in fiery remarks “We have no time for games,” German Foreign Minister tells Hungarian leader as he threatens to block Ukraine EU accession talks. Baerbock also lashed out at Serbia’s Vučić for cozying up to Russia. www.politico.eu/article/germ...

Will Germany solve its budget crisis by cutting development aid? Finance Minister Christian Lindner hinted at such a possibility. “We need to examine our international commitments … Can we perhaps achieve our goals with less money?” More here ⬇️ www.politico.eu/newsletter/b...

Fierce debate in the German Parliament: Scholz said his government would still “invest heavily” in the green transition, despite the budget crisis. Opposition leader Merz called Scholz's leadership "embarrassing" and said his party won't support more debt. www.politico.eu/article/germ...

Scholz’s budget drama really is the most German crisis ever, @MKarnitschnig and myself argue. Compared with Italy, Germany has no real financial problems. Yet it imposed itself tough rules which now hamper the green transition and economic competitiveness. www.politico.eu/newsletter/b...

German budget crisis — is it time to reform or suspend the debt brake? Economy Minister Habeck says it was “made in a different time” with cheap gas from Russia, good trade with China and a reliable U.S. that offered protection. Those times are over now. www.politico.eu/article/germ...

Following a bombshell ruling by Germany’s top court, the financial pain for the ruling coalition may be only just beginning. "The German economy will shrink as a result of this ruling and grow less strongly than predicted,” warned Economy Minister Habeck. www.politico.eu/article/why-...

Germany has ‘psychology of guilt’ and therefore won't criticize Israel, Erdoğan said: “Since we’re in a kind of psychology of guilt here, you can’t judge it that way, but we have no debt to Israel,“ Erdoğan told Scholz at a tense press conference on Friday evening. www.politico.eu/article/erdo...

Olaf Scholz emphasized his belief that the Israeli army will observe international law: “I have no doubt about that.” www.politico.eu/article/euro...

The sky over Brussels is grey but follow me here on Bluesky for the latest on the big EU summit today & tomorrow — and check out our liveblog: www.politico.eu/article/euro...

As EU leaders meet at a summit on Thursday, they will insist they can handle both the wars in Ukraine and in the Middle East at the same time — while also keeping an eye on the tensions between Kosovo and Serbia, to say nothing of Armenia and Azerbaijan. www.politico.eu/article/eu-l...

Your weekly Berlin Bulletin is here 🇩🇪 www.politico.eu/newsletter/b...

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said Wednesday that an explosion at a Gaza hospital must be investigated “very thoroughly,” after competing claims from Israel and Hamas about who blew up the site, killings hundreds, on Tuesday night. www.politico.eu/article/germ...

Why is there no actual solidarity by Arab countries (in terms of actions, not just words) by helping Palestinians trying to flee Gaza? “This is a red line … no refugees to Jordan and also no refugees to Egypt,” King Abdullah said in Berlin. www.politico.eu/article/king...

Macron and Scholz came to Hamburg with their cabinets to try to forge common positions on a host of issues, from defense to trade with China, but announced no concrete progress. Here are three key points of contention: www.politico.eu/article/fran...

At the Franco-German summit in Hamburg today

From my colleague Peter Wilke: A father received a short call from his son who partied with over 4,000 people at a trance music festival when Hamas opened fire on the crowd, killing hundreds. “I heard only gunshots, screams and Arabic language. My son said nothing.” www.politico.eu/article/isra...

Elections in Bavaria and Hesse underscored frustration with the federal ruling coalition, as the far-right Alternative for Germany made big gains. “All of us together in this coalition should recognize the signals,” said SPD Secretary-General Kevin Kühnert. www.politico.eu/article/far-...

Hello Bluesky community, excited to be present here as well and write my first post 🙌 It’s election time in Germany as the two influential states of Bavaria and Hesse head to the polls. Together they account for about 25% of German voters. What to watch out for: www.politico.eu/article/germ...